Wednesday, August 1, 2018

After meeting her boyfriend’s family
and things go off without a hitch, Miranda decides it's the perfect time that
he meet hers. She's excited to show off her perfect boyfriend to her adopted
family. And what better time than when everyone will be together on Easter?
But, things start going downhill before they even walk through the front door.

Antonio has found
his long-awaited mate, Miranda. Only problem, she's human. And he
hasn't had the perfect time to tell her that he's actually a tiger shifter
just yet. When she takes him home to meet her family, he soon learns he isn't
the only one who's been keeping secrets from her. The fact that her Dad is
allergic to cats certainly doesn't help Antonio keep his.

Easter dinner may
end up being a complete disaster if Miranda realizes there's only one human at
the table.

After going a few more rounds with Mildred, and Mom
threatening both of us to stop, I grabbed a snack tray from the kitchen like
she told me to. When I went back to grab some cans of pop she said to me, “Make
sure you get your boyfriend some milk. I’m sure he’d like some.”

“Mom. Will you can it with the cat talk?”

“Don’t roll your eyes at me young lady!” she said as I made
my escape from the kitchen.

I don’t know what I was in such a hurry for. When I stepped
back into the living room the tension in there was so palpable I thought I was
going to have to go back in the kitchen and get a butcher knife to cut through
it.

Millie sat over in the corner where she conveniently pretended
to watch the tv, but in actuality she just watched Dad and Antonio do their
level best to not look at each other. Upon closer inspection I saw that Dad was
watching tv, and also glancing at Antonio out the corner of his eye. And I
think he was growling at him; it was
so low in his throat that I could have been mistaken. I don’t know if Antonio
even payed any attention to what was on the screen, but his left leg shook so
bad his entire body seemed to vibrate.

They jumped a little and looked guilty as sin of something
when I dropped the tray down onto the table. None of them had even noticed me
walk in, “Don’t everybody speak at once.” When I went to sit down on the couch
closer to Antonio than Dad, Antonio put his arm around my shoulder, and yes, Dad
growled, “Daddy, is there some reason you’re growling at my boyfriend? And what
is that smell?” I hadn’t gotten a whiff of anything until just then. But there
was an almost visible aroma coming from my dad that reminded me of my old medicine
cabinet that my parents kept stocked year-round.

“I was not growling, must just have something caught in my
throat.” Was Dad’s throaty, baritone reply. His was the kind of voice that sent
chills up a kid’s spine and put fear in their heart when caught doing something
bad growing up, trust me. “Hope it wasn’t a hairball.” Antonio choked out a
small laugh at that. “That smell is all the Vick’s I got rubbed all in and
around my nostrils and upper lip. I’m hoping that and all the pills your mother
just shoved down my throat can curtail whatever has my allergies afflux.”

“And what on earth are you watching?” I finally looked up at
the flatscreen hanging up over the fireplace mantle to see a bunch of tigers
running in the wild. Since Dad was the one holding the remote at that point he
must have been the one to pick out the show. But I don’t remember ever seeing
him even glance at the Discovery Channel before. “Oh my God, what did he just
do to that reindeer?”

“Oh, sweetie, we were just discussing how aggressive tigers
are, so I decided to pull this up to prove my point.” Came Dad’s reply.

Which Antonio countered with, “We were also talking about
the fact that a pack of wolves could be considered even more aggressive and
unpredictable. Just so happened that this episode featured tigers and not
wolves.”

Mildred bust out laughing in her chair. Before I could ask
her what she found so funny, she jumped out of her seat saying, “I’ma go see if
Mom needs any help with dinner.”

About The Author:

When you become a Mom, you begin to put yourself last, and your
combat boots begin to collect dust. Going to your child's PTA meetings in full
Gothic, especially industrial, regalia is pretty much frowned upon. Especially
by your own children, and your teens would die of a heart attack. But, one
should not have to completely stop being themselves, uniqueness is greatness.
So all of that darkness is put into words in her books, and designs in her
jewelry sold in her Gothic Moms Dark Charms shop on Etsy and Rebels Market.

Single mother of five beautiful children, but by
far more than just that. T. A. Moorman is an artist, a former violinist, a
seamstress, a crafter, a writer, a blogger, a reviewer, a dark confidant and a
darkly dangerous, fiercely protective friend. She still hopes to one day find
her Dark Knight in shining armor, since Prince Charming would never be able to
handle her. And currently broke, so go buy something of hers and tell everyone
you know how much you love this book.